Understanding Democracy Through Britain’s ‘Brexit’ Parliament

Abstract

English Parliaments have been known by many names, including ‘Reformation’, ‘Cavalier’, ‘Long’ and ‘Rump’. The one which has recently been replaced will surely have the title ‘Brexit’, because it was so dominated by the issue of leaving the European Union. Its failure to settle this reflects a mismatch between direct democracy and representative democracy, which can be understood through a concept developed by Garret Hardin, ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’.